The number of hospital stays involving septicemia was almost 1.6 million in 2009, an increase of 86% since 2000, according to data from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.
Between 2000 and 2009, stays with a principal diagnosis of septicemia increased 146%, while cases with septicemia as a secondary diagnosis increased by 47%, as determined by a search of AHRQ’s Nationwide Inpatient Sample. (Septicemia stays were identified as having an ICD-9-CM diagnosis code of 003.1, 036.2, 038.0-038.9, 054.5, 449, or 790.7.)
Septicemia was the sixth most common principal reason for hospitalization in 2009, with an average of 4,600 new patients treated per day in U.S. hospitals. Cost per stay increased from an inflation-adjusted $12,800 in 2000 to $18,500 in 2009. The total cost for admissions with a principal diagnosis of septicemia, $15.4 billion, was the highest for any single condition treated in U.S. hospitals in 2009, the AHRQ reported.